By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
Copyright Warner Bros
So here we go with the penultimate episode so what to expect?
First I smell a baby daddy issue as Uncle Shaw seems to be closer to young Hiro than his Randa “Dad” in the aftermath of Keiko’s death. Where’s a paternity court when you need them?
Shaw leads an expedition to the Underspace (Hollow Earth as seen in Kong Vs Godzilla) like a reverse moon mission. Historically, the shots of the four pilots entering Doctor Suzuki’s deep Earth probe echo the shots of NASA astronauts boarding their shuttles for the space missions. Only this ship will penetrate the realm on the wake of a Titan. However the trip leaves near devastation in its wake. Similarly the explosive cliffhanger from last week leads to Kentaro being cut free from Monarch who tell him Cate, Shaw and May were killed in the implosion. However we now as an audience they are trapped in Underspace.
We discover how Shaw has not aged. He disappeared in 1962 and wakes in 1982 where he is greeted by a grown up Hiro. But Hiro is not keen on speaking to him as he mourned them all and moved on. But talk they do as Hiro finds out for Monarch what happened to Shaw’s mission. The story is told in a beautifully cinematic way making the Underspace a scarier place than we thought. Shaw ends up in the Monarch detention center the Randa’s rescued him from.
Kentaro meets his father whom he tells of Cate’s death in a heated moment with Kentaro blaming him for everything. But we learn Cate is alive and well when she is rescued from being savaged by a monster from the person she least expected tto see….Keiko is alive, well and still the age she was when she fell into the Underspace.
This is a much improved episode which delivers answers and the family drama is effective and not drawn out like it has been.
I have a feeling this will end on a cliffhanger which I hope it doesn’t unless there is a sharper written season two. But right now while this was a better episode, it still has not gained momentum enough to promise a second season. Maybe the finale will blow us away….
The Time Warriors and Beyond 